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Thursday, November 02, 2017

Congressional Republicans proposed barring the sale of municipal bonds for professional sports stadiums and privately run infrastructure projects such as toll roads and airports, a step that’s at odds with President Donald Trump’s push to increase funding for public works.

The tax-cutting bill released Thursday would also eliminate advanced refundings of debt issues, a popular refinancing technique with state and local governments, as well as bonds backed by federal tax credits. If enacted, the proposals would cut the amount of municipal debt sold each year by billions of dollars and potentially boost demand for the bonds.

“If you reduce the supply of municipal securities that would make them generally more valuable,” said Rob Amodeo, head of municipal debt for Western Asset Management. “But if you look at the idea that munis are going to act as a cornerstone for financing U.S. infrastructure, some of the provisions in this tax plan may challenge that a bit.”

The rollback to so-called private-activity bonds would increase costs for companies that finance public works by borrowing billions each year in the municipal securities market, where interest rates are lower. Ending the program would would increase revenue by about $39 billion through 2027, according to Congressional estimates.

Thursday, October 05, 2017

The city of Kansas City is funding a study of at least four potential sites for a downtown baseball stadium for the Kansas City Royals, according to documents obtained by The Star…

[Kansas City Manager Troy] Schulte said the studies started after the Downtown Council approached City Hall about the feasibility of downtown baseball. Schulte added that he agreed to help fund a study to consider whether the four sites would work so that the city could plan ahead if the idea gained momentum…

Potential obstacles for downtown baseball include parking and how to pay for it. Schulte said initial estimates for a stadium were north of $450 million. Those details, he added, have not been studied in depth.